Chapter Fourteen: Honesty

"Charity?" Magnus repeated, puzzled.

"Like you don't know!" I hissed.

"Actually, I don't."

I stamped a foot. Childish, I know, but I have EVERY RIGHT to be childish. "You and Charity made out!" I screeched.

Magnus then looked like he realized what I was saying.

"Yes," He said simply.

That was it? 'Yes'? No, 'Oh, I'm so sorry'? No apologies, no NOTHING?

"YES?" I yelled.

"Yes." Magnus fixed me with his stare. "I won't lie to you Faith. I've given up on lying to you on most subjects. Keep things from you, I'll try, but outright lie to you... you can know that I'm probably telling the truth."

Oh.

Probably.

That's nice.

"Why?" I asked. Magnus shook his head.

"You really don't get it, do you?" He asked.

"Unless you're still in love with Charity, no."

He chuckled and walked up to me. "Thanks for helping tonight. Don't pounce on Rowena, please. And about the Charity thing...? What are your feelings on that now?"

"I believe you," I said slowly. "I believe that it was nothing. I don't get it, but you're off the hook. For now."

Geez, that was easy.

But hey. If Magnus isn't honest to one-hundred percent of the time, then I better return the favor, right?

xxx

I punched in the numbers and waited for someone to pick up. On the third ring:

"H-hello?"

Charity. Stammering. Charity stammered. Weird.

"Char?" I asked.

"Faith?" She asked sharply. "Seriously?"

"Yeah," I replied slowly. "Sorry about the whole thing earlier. I was-"

"No you weren't," She insisted. Her voice was a lot breathier, I noticed, and she was panting... since I have such great experience in the make out thing-thanks to Magnus-I was pretty sure that she had been in the middle of something when I called.

Who would she kiss, though? Magnus wasn't there, as far as I knew-hey, I was in my room-and the only other guy she hung out with was S-

Oh.

OH.

"YOU WERE MAKING OUT WITH SAM?" I yelled.

"Not... neccesarily..." Charity quickly changed the subject. "So. How'd it go with Magnus?"

"He said basically that ninety-five percent of the time he'd be honest with me, which I really don't get."

Charity gave an exasperated sigh.

"Please," She said. "There are some things he can't tell you because it would ruin his master plan."

"What master plan."

"Gosh, you're naiive."

xxx

"Can you get me that bag of oreos?" Mom pleaded, hand on her gigantic belly. You know, you'd think that since she has two great kids, and she's in her late thirties, and wouldn't want another child.

Think again.

Yep, Mom was seven months pregnant with her third kid. And what's worse, she didn't want to warn me on whether it would be a boy or a girl!

Anyway, her latest craving is oreos, which I must get every ten seconds.

"Yes, Mother," I groaned, getting up and walking into the kitchen. Once I had the bag, I deposited it on her lap.

"Thanks for staying home today, Faith," Mom mumbled through five cookies. "It really means a lot to me."

I gave a weak smile.

"You and-Rob, wasn't it?-seem to be doing good together."

"Yeah," I replied with all the enthusiasm I could muster. "He's great."

Mom dunked an oreo into a nearby glass of milk. "But you're still in love with that vampire," She added conversationally.

"Oh, no, not at all."

She arched an eyebrow. "Right."

I glared at my hands. I glared at my stupid mind which was thinking stupid thoughts which were thoughts that I really shouldn't be thinking...

"It's all right to be in love with him, you know," Mom murmured. "Just don't tell your father."

"We broke up," I whispered. "Not safe."

"Yes. Jesse ignored me for a long time after our first kiss. But it worked out..."

I dug my nails deep down into my palms. "This isn't going to work," I muttered. "Dad couldn't kill you, could he? That's what Magnus is worried about. To be totally honest, he almost did kill me."

Oops. Didn't mean to say that.

But Mom was calm.

"Who knew?"

She winked.

It is so awesome to have weird parents.

xxx

"Rob," I began cautiously, sitting close to him on his couch. "I have a question."

"Yeah?"

I took in a deep breath. It was a retarded question to ask, but I felt like I needed to know. My relationships had been so weird. The one with Ben, and the one with Magnus, the most noticeable ones, had been like soap operas. I thought I was in love with Ben, but I wasn't. I really had been in love with Magnus, but he was dangerous.

Hah. I could be on General Hospital.

"Rob..." I began again. "Do you love me?"

His eyes widened. Whoa. Didn't mean to catch him by surprise. I mean, I didn't want to sound needy, but I had a technique.

"Yes," He responded after a moment of long thoughts. "I do love you. What about you?"

"Of course I love you."

This was so... not right. Rob may love me, but I sure didn't know whether I loved him or not.

xxx

She blinked large doe eyes around the room, looking very innocent. Oh, but I knew better. I knew that Lady Rowena was not innocent.

"Rowena?" I asked. "Hey, slut?"


She didn't do a thing. I suddenly realized that I was no longer in my room, but in a great big hall. Maybe that's why they called it the Grand Hall.

Huh.

Learn something new every day.

A man strode into the room, not a good-looking dude at all. And he wasn't Magnus. Rowena giggled, stood on tip-toe, and kissed him.

"Magnus shall never find out," She whispered.

"Of course," The man I now knew to be Sir Lionel declared. "As long as Josephine does the job right, we won't have to worry at all."


My heart seemed to stop.

"Magnus," I whispered in shock.

That's what was going on...

xxx

"C'mon, pick up," I muttered.

"Hello?"

"Magnus!" I cried, sitting straight up in bed, holding onto my phone like it was a life line.

"Faith?" He seemed confused.

"It's about Lady Rowena-"

"Yes, I've decided that she couldn't have done what I thought she had done. In fact, Lady Josephine admitted to lying after a while."

"But she's a liar! That's what liars do-"

There was desperation in his voice when he spoke again. Pleading.

Hunger.

And not for my blood.

Maybe not even for me.

Probably not.

"Faith," He sighed. "I can't speak to you anymore. I've got to go..."

He hung up.

I dialed the next number.

"What?" Charity asked politely.

"Charity," I exclaimed. "It was Rowena who had Magnus offed all those years ago, and she'll want to do it again."

xxx

R and R! About Magnus's behavior, since he's acting different: HAH! You'll find out.